Gordon Banks OBE Funeral - Road Closures announced

Final details confirmed...

DETAILS OF the arrangements for the funeral of Gordon Banks at Stoke Minster on Monday (March 4th at 1.30pm) have now been confirmed.

It should be noted that this is expected to be a major event in the city, and may attract large crowds. Stoke City, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Staffordshire Police, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service and West Midlands Ambulance Service, and a number of other partners, are working together to support the event.

The bet365 Stadium will open at 11.30am and fans are encouraged to attend the stadium by applying for free tickets via www.scfcdirect.com, in person from the stadium ticket office and intu Potteries Club Store or by calling 01782 367599.

Attendees will be able to celebrate Gordon’s life and watch the funeral service live on the big screens in the ground. The service will also be streamed live and free on stokecityfc.com.

The cortege will leave the bet365 Stadium at 12.15pm, and will follow a 10-mile route through the city, pausing at the site of the former Victoria Ground and through the one-way system in Stoke town to Stoke Minster in Glebe Street. The cortege will arrive at the Minster at 1.15pm.

There will be a number of road closures in place for the proceedings and they can be found by clicking here. In Stoke town, it means that Glebe Street itself will be fully closed to traffic from 6am to 5pm. Bus services 14, 14A, 14W and 23 which normally use the bus stop on Glebe Street will be re-routed for the whole day to the bus stop outside the amusement arcade on Church Street – please note these buses will continue to use this replacement stop in the late afternoon and evening, even after Glebe Street reopens.

Motorists are advised that Kingsway Car Park will be closed to the public all day; Stoke Station West Car Park (the former Wharf Place Car Park) will be open and publicly available, but access to and from the car park will only be available via Lytton Street.

It should be advised that while all fans are encouraged to attend the proceedings at the bet365 Stadium, sections of the route and Stoke town itself, may become exceptionally busy, with the potential for a large number of people congregated in Glebe Street.

Any members of the public wishing to bring floral or other tributes are advised to take them to the statue of Gordon Banks at the bet365 Stadium. Should any tributes be taken to Stoke Minster, they will be respectfully moved after the funeral by council crews and taken to the statue at the ground.

Council waste collection crews operating on the route of the funeral cortege will start earlier in the day, and households are asked to have their bins ready for collection from 6am. In Stoke town, businesses with trade waste bins that are not collected by the council are asked to secure and move their bins themselves.

Businesses and households on the route are encouraged to put tributes up in windows.